Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Battle of Mobile Bay III - The Aftermath

Sailors at the helm of the USS Hartford, probably taken after the battle. Naval History and Heritage Command.

In the days after the battle, officers of Farragut’s
squadron composed their after-action reports to the Admiral. Some of these
contain almost humorous recollections. Captain John B. Marchand of the USS Lackawanna wrote that he closed with the
Confederate ironclad CSS Tennessee,
and for a brief period the two warships lay side-to-side. As he gazed into one
of the open gun-ports on the Confederate ironclad, he found himself in a
stare-down with a Confederate sailor manning one of the Tennessee’s guns. The Confederate sailor unleashed a blistering
epithet of profanity at the Union officer. His men adjacent to him heard this
and, insulted by this affront to their officer’s honor, redoubled the pace of
their re-loading and discharge of small arms fire into the open gun-ports of the
enemy ship, along with throwing anything solid in their possession at Confederate
sailors visible through the ports, if they did not wield a weapon.

After the surrender of the Tennessee, Cdr. William E. Le Roy, captain of the USS Ossipee, lay alongside the stricken
Confederate ironclad and called out to his good friend, CSN Cdr. James D.
Johnston, to come aboard for some cold water and “something better than that for you down below.” Interestingly,
Farragut himself did not go aboard the Tennessee
to accept Buchanan’s surrender. He sent Acting Volunteer Lt. Pierre Giraud to
take possession of the Admiral’s sword, and subsequently sent Fleet Surgeon
Palmer aboard to assist CSN Surgeon Conrad in caring for Buchanan and the other
wounded. Although Farragut and Buchanan had served together aboard USN warships,
and knew each other, the relationship was purely professional and a friendship between
the two had never developed. Buchanan was sent to Pensacola to recuperate,
despite Confederate Gen. Page’s request that he be sent to Mobile.

Losses on the Confederate side were remarkably light,
considering the overwhelming superiority of the Union in terms of number of
guns. Twelve Confederate sailors were killed (most on the other gunboats, only
two on the Tennessee), and 20
wounded, although every Confederate warship was lost (sunk or captured). The “butcher’s
bill” on the Union side was quite a bit more severe; 93 men lost when the Tecumseh went down, and Farragut
reported 52 of his sailors killed and 170 wounded on the other ships. Landsman
John Lawson, an African American sailor on the Hartford serving on a gun crew, received the Medal of Honor authorized by the US Congress (now called the “Congressional Medal of Honor”) for his gallantry during the action.

View of the Union fleet from Ft. Morgan after capture. Alabama Historical Society.

Forts Powell and Gaines surrendered not long after the
defeat of the Confederate flotilla, and after a few days of bombardment, Fort
Morgan also surrendered. Although the City of Mobile would not be taken by Union
forces until the spring of next year (April 1865), the Union now had complete
control of Mobile Bay and essentially closed down Mobile as a destination for
blockade runners for the rest of the war.

Much legend has accumulated over what Farragut
actually said in the early stages of the battle, as things appeared to
deteriorate after the loss of the monitor Tecumseh.
An article in the most recent Naval History
magazine analyzes this in detail based on “ear-witness” accounts. It appears
obvious that he made a statement that struck a chord with those around him. No
matter what exactly he said, I think we have to acknowledge that it ranks right
up there with other legendary statements in U.S. Navy history, including John
Paul Jones’ “Sir, I have not yet begun to
fight.” and George Dewey’s “You may
fire when you are ready, Gridley.”

U.S. Navy recruiting poster from WW I, showing Farragut and his famous order. Wikipedia/U.S. Navy archives.